Fortnite World Championship: One of the kids will go home with $4 million

At Fortnite the world championship is scheduled for the end of July. The favourites are professionals aged 14 or 15. An expert thinks one of these kids will go home with 4 million US dollars and thinks it’s crazy. However, he believes that in the long run, the “big names” will make big money – and not the kids.

Who is talking? The following spoke: Alex “Golden Boy” Mendez, a well-known presenter and casting director. He foresaw the eSports boom early and discussed in an interview with Kotaku what’s going on.

A big topic for him: The young eSports pros, who are often underage, and the older Twitch streamers. Both groups, the entertainers and the athletes, shape Fortnite.

How much money is the Fortnite World Championship about? From 26 to 28 July, the 100 best solo players and the 50 best duos in the world will play the Fortnite World Cup.

It’s a total of $30 million in prize money just during these 3 days – a further $12 million will be distributed during the ongoing qualifiers.

-Everyone who qualifies for the World Cup will have at least $50,000 for sure.

-Whoever wins the Solo World Championship in Fortnite receives 3 million US dollars

That’s what the expert says: Mendez believes that not the “big twitch streamers” will play for this money, but the young pros.

Of the “big names”, only Tfue qualified for the Solo World Cup. Otherwise, there would still be a few names known in the Fortnite community. But the main ones would be Fortnite professionals: kids aged 14 or 15.

In the course of the tournament, the wheat will separate from the chaff, and in the end, the best players will be at the top.

Mendez says, “One of these kids will go home with $4 million.”

The journalist then says, “This is crazy.”

Mendez: “This is insane.”

What kind of young professionals are they? It is noticeable that many of the people who have qualified are unknown names of which you know little.

But those who came into the public eye were often very young.

The 15-year-old “Benjy Fish” made headlines when his mother took him out of school to train for the World Cup. His partner, Norwegian MrSavage, is the same age.

Another hot candidate is Mongraal (15), an Englishman with slight problems in controlling his anger. However, he is considered to be incredibly talented in Fortnite.

Finally, a 12-year-old boy made headlines because he was already signed as a professional although he was below the age limit of 13.

Special case: Fortnite – Personality counts here

That’s the catch: The child who wins the World Cup and so much money will probably not be the most famous player with all the success, Mendez thinks.

Because Mendez believes that the “real winners” of Fortnite, in the long run, are not the young professionals who get the prize money, but the entertaining streamers with their huge twitch channels, like Ninja and these guys, make money.

While prize money appears only sporadically, streams generate a steady income.

Therefore, many eSportsmen would consider letting eSports be and streaming them. Like Dafran did with Overwatch. He said after a short time in the Overwatch league: “Do you know what? I think I’d rather stream.”

That would have made Dafran more successful than ever before.

The Overwatch professional xQc also managed to make a career out of being kicked out of his Overwatch team.

That’s why Fortnite is so ideal for streamers: Fortnite is a prime example of an eSport where viewers identify much more with a single person than with a team, says Mendez.

There have been individual professionals who have become a brand: Like Poach, Vivid, 72Hrs or Ayden. But they are not nearly as much a brand as Tfue, Nickmercs or Ninja.

So Fortnite is an option for players to leave eSport and just stream.

That’s also the difference between eSports and traditional sports, in normal sports, nobody can say “I’m streaming now”.

A Fortnite player even became a pro, although he wasn’t even 13 yet.